Sony ships 5.5 million PS3s - almost hits estimates

Despite the recent doom and gloom announcements, Sony reported that they shipped out 5.5 million PlayStation 3's during the last fiscal year (ending March 31st); almost hitting their initial estimates of 6 million. Later in the financial report, they also stated that they shipped out 13.2 million copies of software during the same period.

Right now, the PS3 is outpacing the Xbox 360's sell rates during the same post-launch timeframe, though it's performance pales compared to a certain little white box. And while it can be said that the Wii and the PS3 aren't in direct competition, that is not quite true for the Xbox 360 and the PS3. The PS3's rate of purchase has started to plateau, so it's clear that Sony needs something to pique the general public's interest in it in order to stay competitive with the Xbox 360.

Fortunately, the embargo from the Sony Gamer's Day drops soon. Once that happens, I have a feeling that people will start getting excited about the PS3 once again ...